Like a Drone to Water
by scifiromance
Summary: Chakotay decides to teach Seven how to swim... Fluffy post-Endgame C/7 one-shot. M rated for suggestiveness.


**A/n: Unfortunately I hurt my arm at the weekend, so I'm stuck typing with one hand. Since that's the case I've left my more complex chapter ideas for later and am writing this little bit of fluff to cheer myself up, enjoy!**

"I see Naomi invited you to her birthday party also." Seven remarked softly as she left Chakotay's small kitchenette to join him on the sofa, carrying a mug of tea in each hand.

"You saw that huh?" Chakotay answered with a smile as he gratefully his drink from her with a fond murmur of thanks, "It's sweet that she made the invitations herself isn't it? I was impressed."

Seven nodded warmly in agreement, "She is a highly creative, and detail orientated, individual." She said approvingly, remembering her own admiration of the unique drawing that had been on her own invitation, apparently Naomi had drawn a different picture on each invitation for every one of her former crewmates.

Chakotay breathed a heavy sigh as he forced his tense muscles to relax back into the sofa and his eyes swept over the brightly lit, domineering cityscape of San Francisco which was glittering just outside the apartment's largest window. "It'll be good to see the whole crew again."

"Yes." Seven admitted, exhaling softly, "The party will be the first time we have congregated, outside of the official Starfleet celebrations, since Voyager returned."

Chakotay gave her hand, resting comfortably on his knee, an affectionate squeeze as he heard in her voice a more intense version of the strain that had been wearing him down over the past three weeks. The euphoria of reaching Earth had faded away surprisingly quickly as the crew had been confronted with the problem of trying to make it feel like the idealised 'home' they'd each dreamt of during Voyager's turbulent journey. "I'm already counting the days." He told her quietly.

Seven turned in the sofa to fully meet his gaze, a wan smile of gratitude for his understanding pulling at her full lips. "As am I." She conceded in relief as she also tried, once again, to settle into these unfamiliar surroundings. This apartment, like hers the floor above and many others in the same building, had been provided for Voyager's crew by Starfleet while each of them 'got back on their feet', in Admiral Paris' kindly words. Despite the reassurances she'd hurriedly, and awkwardly, been offered, Seven suspected that she was being held in a diplomatic holding pattern while Starfleet, and the Federation as whole, decided what to do with her. Unfortunately, the new Admiral Janeway's protestations notwithstanding, Chakotay and the other Maquis seemed to be in a similar position to herself; in limbo while it was debated whether their 'crimes' should be forgotten as well as ceremoniously forgiven.

Chakotay's warm, slightly calloused hand, moving to cradle her chin, pulled her out of these troubling thoughts. "Would you object to accompanying me to the party, now that I can't order you to?" he asked softly, his black brows crinkling teasingly to mirror his light-hearted tone but his dark eyes serious and searching. He'd been careful to keep their relationship held back at a steady pace, there was so much change enveloping them already and he knew Seven could be easily overwhelmed. He never wanted to give her cause to push him away ever again. Going slow didn't mean that he appreciated their new relationship any less that he would have if they'd been progressing at warp-speed though. Right now they needed the comfort of emotional intimacy more than anything. Sometimes Seven's example of self-restraint had been the only thing that kept his frustrations towards Starfleet, often fanned back into the fervent flames of rage he'd known back in the battlefields of the Badlands, in check. He was glad that Seven had trusted him enough these past weeks to reach out for him immediately if her new situation began to overwhelm her.

Seven smiled at him happily, her gaze brightening as if the sun had risen in her sky blue eyes. "I would like that very much." She replied modestly, a tiny blush painting pink over the canvas of her pale cheeks. There weren't many women, the way their relationship had strengthened, who wouldn't assume that they'd be going together, they were a couple after all, but Seven rarely assumed anything. Sometimes Chakotay longed to be able to convince her of her value to him, that she shouldn't underestimate herself so much, so he was pleased when she then confidently gave him back some teasing, "An order is not required Commander. Being ordered to attend social events always affected my enjoyment of them." She murmured as she leaned in and gave him a soft kiss.

"I'd noticed that." Chakotay admitted as they reluctantly broke apart the tender moment, suddenly regretting that the crew, Kathryn especially, hadn't been more subtle in getting Seven to interact. She'd always played by her own rules after all. Of course, he couldn't really talk, considering how little effort he'd put in to get to under her Borg exterior during those early, conflicted, months and years. "I'm sure you'll enjoy this party though, a summer beach party is a great tonic to stress."

Seven nodded, "Naomi seems to have learned from Neelix's party planning skills, although I believe she has no more experience of the beach and barbeque meals than I have." She breathed a thoughtful sigh, "She'll miss Neelix in particular…"

Chakotay absently stroked her blonde hair out of her face as he kissed her on the cheek, "We'll all do our best to make sure she has as much fun as possible, as much as we're going to have. The California coastline is really spectacular and after good food and a dip in the sea I'm sure we'll all leave feeling great…"

Seven had been watching the eagerness on his handsome face with pleasure, reluctant to interrupt but needing to, "That scenario sounds pleasant, I will avoid the sea however…"

Chakotay was surprised, he'd seen the anticipation for the party in her face as much as he'd felt it. "Why? The sea has been cleared of pollution for over a century if that's what you're worried about…"

Seven cut him off with a firm shake of her head. "That is not an issue, but I do not swim."

"You don't know how to swim?" Chakotay asked somewhat incredulously. If anything, he'd thought Seven was more athletic than he was. He'd witnessed her in the Tsunkatse ring after all.

"It was not considered a relevant skill within the Collective." Seven answered with a sharp hint of defensiveness, hurt by his incredulity. "In fact, deep water is dangerous for drones. The implants are too dense to…"

"You're not a drone anymore Seven." Chakotay reminded her, "And it's not as if you haven't learned any new skills since you left." He continued, giving her a quick smile as he thought of hearing her angelic singing voice or the day she'd shyly revealed she could play the piano.

"I suppose not." Seven conceded slowly, "But I never needed to swim while on Voyager either, it was one survival skill I did not need to deploy."

Chakotay smirked wryly to himself as he thought of their many brushes with death, glad he could look on the memories now with a measure of dark humour. "No, thankfully you didn't, but swimming isn't just a 'survival skill', its great fun too."

Seven's lips pursed doubtfully, "I can have 'fun' in other ways…"She replied tersely.

"Of course you can." Chakotay backtracked carefully, "But that doesn't mean you shouldn't still learn to swim." He pressed again after a pause, softening his stance with an encouraging smile, "I'm happy to teach you."

"You're qualified to do so?" Seven questioned pointedly. She cringed slightly as she realised that the query, which had automatically sprang to her lips, sounded rude, even distrustful.

Chakotay, thankfully, just chuckled good-naturedly. "I should be, I covered my living expenses at the Academy by taking a job as a lifeguard. That was a long time back now, but…"

"I'm sure you're still capable." Seven assured him hastily, still embarrassed. Taking a deep breath, she decided to give in. "I will allow you to teach me if you believe it is necessary."

Chakotay grinned at her proudly, "It'll be fun, I promise. We'll start tomorrow."

* * *

Chakotay breathed a relieved sigh as he slipped his feet over the edge of the pool to float in the cool water, letting his mind empty for a moment. It had been another day stuffed with bloated, officious debriefings that Starfleet's bureaucracy demanded and he was mentally drained. Now, if Seven would just reappear, he could hopefully blow off some steam with a good few lengths and maybe coax her to join him. The swimming pool itself was small, not even half an Olympic size, and was the main facility in the small gym that made up the basement floor of their apartment building. Due to the fact it was so close, he had just thrown a shirt over his knee length swimming trunks and jumped in the lift with some towels, but Seven had insisted on using the changing rooms. She was being unusually inefficient with her time, and he was starting to worry that she was going to back out.

"Chakotay?" Seven's dulcet tones echoed tentatively behind him and he immediately turned to look over his shoulder at her. She shifted nervously from foot to foot, uncharacteristically fidgety, as he didn't respond to her, returning her apprehensive gaze with an awestruck stare. "Is something wrong?" she mumbled, almost to herself, as she shyly lowered her eyes from his.

Chakotay flushed guiltily, feeling like a teenager caught peeping, as he interpreted that question. He knew she was really fearful that _she_ had done something wrong. Admittedly, at first he was bemused by the fact that she had the larger of her two towels wrapped around her legs in a makeshift skirt and had a smaller towel draped over her shoulders, but he could see enough of her one piece black swimsuit to make his heart race. "No, nothing." He reassured her quickly, turning around to take her hands and gently tug her down to join him by the pool. "You're just stunning…a real bombshell honey." He murmured honestly, rubbing her back as her eyes moved skittishly over the curious faces of the dozen or so people who were also using the pool. One factor in which Seven's rationality always seemed to fail her was her low self-esteem, especially in terms of her looks. She lacked the experience to be able to differentiate between stares of shocked disgust and those of lustful admiration, and constantly presumed the former, saw herself as a mutilated Borg drone before a beautiful young woman. If she could see into the minds of the men in here with them now, like he could as he glared at them in warning, Seven would have a very different idea of herself.

Seven flinched, swallowing slightly as flecks of hurt tainted her confused expression. "A…bombshell?" She echoed weakly, "You're comparing me to a deadly weapon?"

Chakotay paled, "No!" he exclaimed in horror, "That's just an old compliment…" He struggled to collect himself, pressing a hand to his forehead, "I think it comes from certain beautiful women having an 'explosive' effect on men, and that's certainly true of you…"

Seven put her hand on his arm to stop his verbal stumbling, his pain at her reaction so obviously genuine that she knew she must've drastically misunderstood. "Human language is full of inexplicable idioms." She muttered with a soft exasperated sigh, trying her best to smile at him. "I will need to question Tom Paris about the origin of that particular one."

Chakotay choked on a relieved chuckle, soon laughing outright. "Yeah, he'd definitely be interested in something like that!" Settled by her giggle, he remembered their purpose and gave her another warm smile. "You ready to start learning?"

Seven shuffled closer to the edge of the pool, staring warily down into the blue clarity of the chlorinated water. Despite the fact that she could easily make out the neat rows of white tiles at the bottom, for a moment the memory of the dying thoughts of drones as they sank crossing bodies of water, the implants that dominated their bodies acting as inescapable weights. The Doctor had assured her earlier that day that she had nowhere near enough implants remaining to meet the same fate, but… One look at Chakotay's calm face however brought an answer to her lips, "Yes."

"Great!" Chakotay said eagerly, "I'll get in and warm up and then you follow me, okay?" In one swift movement he'd pulled his shirt off and then plunged smoothly into the water. Seven's eyes, without conscious command, riveted on his muscular arms and torso as they bunched and stretched, pulling him through the water. Warmth that left her pleasantly lightheaded surged through her veins and as she continued to trail him with her gaze the thought occurred to her that swimming might be quite relaxing for her, as a spectator sport. The more uncomfortable heat of a shameful blush hit her as she belatedly put a name to what she was doing, 'ogling'. Even the term itself was undignified. With a hasty jerk of her head, she guiltily forced herself to look away before he noticed, but it then came to her attention that the other women in the area were being even more blatant in their admiration than she had been! An irrational wave of irritation flooded her and she found herself staring the closest offender down, her eyes narrowing into slits until the other woman reluctantly looked away. She was immediately disturbed by her behaviour, was this what it felt like to experience jealousy? Or, perhaps more accurately, possessiveness? It wasn't exactly a pleasant feeling, whatever it was, but it refused to fade none the less. Chakotay certainly wouldn't be impressed with such petty behaviour!

Unbeknownst to her, Chakotay had stopped swimming and was observing her in amusement. He couldn't deny that seeing Seven watching him so intently was an ego boost, and he found it funny that she was mirroring his behaviour from earlier in shooting 'death glares' at out of line admirers. "Apparently we make quite the pair." He commented as he returned to her, looking around knowingly.

Seven started to flush, then noted the smirk pulling at his lips; he was trying not to laugh. Gamely, she returned the smirk, eyebrows arched. "Apparently so."

"You know…" Chakotay began carefully, gesturing towards her, "Having those towels wrapped around you will make swimming more a challenge." He reminded her gently.

Seven cringed, her jaw clenching. "But…" She started, halting as she realised she was being unreasonable. Still, she stalled, toying uncertainly with the knot of her temporary skirt. Chakotay had never seen the full, scarring, extent of her implants beyond her arm and his possible reaction scared her, let alone the reaction of these strangers. "Understood." She acquiesced tersely when she saw that this was non-negotiable, casting the two disguising towels aside quickly now that she'd made her decision. As her gaze fell on her legs, almost fully exposed even in this swimsuit, the most modest she'd been able to find in the replicator database, a chill ran over her. A web of metal rooted in her right hip was wound around her entire thigh, a gnarled knot of silver was embedded in her left knee… "The Doctor was incorrect…" She mumbled to herself.

"About what?" Chakotay asked in concern, "I thought he said swimming was perfectly safe…"

"He did." Seven clarified, "But he also said a wetsuit would be excessive."

"Listen to me, the only time you need to wear a _wetsuit_ is if we ever learn to scuba dive alright?" Chakotay informed her firmly, pointedly running a hand down one of her lower legs as he said so. "Now, jump in."

"Here?" Seven asked, glancing over at the steps at the shallow end of the pool, "Can't I…"

"It's too shallow there." Chakotay replied, reaching up to gently grip her sides, "Do I have to pull you in?" he teased lightly.

Seven shot him a warning glance before starting him by placing a hand resolutely on each of his shoulders and pushing herself into the water, sliding down his chest as he instinctively hugged her. She didn't really register how close they were as the shock chill of the water hit her and made her gasp. She flailed in fright for a moment, scratching Chakotay's shoulders like the drowning cat she for a moment resembled. "Oh…"

"I've got you, you won't sink." Chakotay assured her patiently, forcing her to straighten up against him.

Seven gave an embarrassed start as she realised that her feet easily touched the bottom of the pool. Chakotay had been right, if the water had been any shallower she would've been mostly above water. As it was, Chakotay was crouching slightly to stay level with her. "I'm sorry…" She said tightly, biting her lip.

"Don't be." Chakotay replied kindly, "Let's go a bit deeper, we're both treading water here." With that he led her further up the pool, until she had to paddle a bit to stay afloat. "Right, move onto your front." He instructed, tentatively moving to put one hand on her back and the other on her flat stomach. "We'll try the breaststroke first, do you know how a frog kicks?"

"I believe so." Seven confirmed, "Is that the action I need to mimic?"

"Pretty much." Chakotay answered, "Kick with your legs, but use your arms too. Point them out in front of you and then pull them out wide."

Seven nodded into the water, surprising him by instantly doing the stroke better than he'd clumsily described it, shooting away from him in one smooth movement. More slowly, she headed to the end of the pool on her own, then gripped the wall as she turned back to revel in his stunned expression. "Are you coming?" she called down to him wryly.

Chakotay laughed loudly and obediently followed. "Well, I'd say you're confident with that!" he chuckled. "Want to try the backstroke?"

Seven frowned, "I won't be able to see where I'm going…"

"You'll learn to be able to judge it so you don't hit the wall." Chakotay assured her, "Do you want one of the float aids?"

Seven shook her head as she eyed the childish, candy coloured floats stacked against one wall. "No." She said resolutely, taking a deep breath as she added, "You do it and I'll copy your technique."

"Okay…" Chakotay agreed uncertainly, flipping onto his back and heading off. When he reached the end of the length, he was shocked to find that Seven was already there. "How did you do that?" he demanded incredulously.

Seven gave an elegant shrug, "I have enhanced physiology and you weren't trying."

Chakotay responded to that, now that the other swimmers had left, by playfully splashing her in the face. "You'll _know _when I start trying." He retorted.

"Oh?" Seven smirked, instantly flying off to do another length. Laughing until he almost choked on the water, Chakotay dived after her, marvelling at how quickly her fear of the water had dissipated.

* * *

As they were now alone, they raced over and over as eagerly and ceaselessly as children. Eventually, Chakotay had to call a truce, leaning back against the wall of the shallow end. He was tall enough to be able to sit on the floor and stay above the water and was glad to take advantage of the fact. "Okay, okay, I think that's a long enough lesson for today Crewman."

"As you wish, Commander." Seven replied coyly, kneeling on the tiles so that his arms could wholly encircle her, her head and shoulders just above the water. "Are those…nicknames now?" she asked, feeling brave enough to lean into his chest.

"Tongue in cheek maybe." Chakotay murmured, running his arms up and down her sides until he'd coaxed her practically onto his lap. "Why?" he whispered distractedly as he began to trail kisses, hot and heavy even in the cool water, down her throat. "Does it bother you?"

"No…ahh…." Seven's answer lagged into a soft moan as his lips grazed, then impishly settled on, a sensitive spot on her neck. "You were right, swimming is fun. Thank you for persuading me." He just smiled at her in response, avidly running his fingers through her ponytail. She was surprised that he could do so, the chlorinated water had left her hair matted as well as soaked, she suspected the elastic band holding her hair back would be chemically bonded to it by now. Playfully, she swung her head away to keep his hands at bay, smirking at his agitation but making it up to him by cuddling into him tighter. "Do you think I'm prepared for the beach party now?"

"You'll blast them all out of the water, so to speak." Chakotay assured her with a low hum of a chuckle.

"I presume a wetsuit would still be considered excessive in that environment?" She teased him.

Chakotay pretended to think about it, but the fact that his brown gaze had darkened to almost black as he studied her told her his mind wasn't really on what she was saying. "Honestly, a bikini would be better…" He muttered huskily, almost to himself.

"Really?" Seven answered with the same timbre to her voice, the ease of movement underwater allowing her to smoothly wrap her legs around his hips. She was distantly aware that she never would've been so forward elsewhere, but she could feel his powerful arousal against her and was high and careless on a wave of her own. Her body felt as if it was boiling in the water. "Not for the party, the crew would be scandalised, but I may wear one if we arrange another one on one swimming lesson."

The sound Chakotay made was somewhere between a laugh and a groan as his grip on her tightened possessively. "I'm okay with that. It's a good thing I didn't show you all the strokes tonight…" He was interrupted by the gym's computer announcing that the facility was about to close for the night. With a frustrated sigh, he rested his chin on her shoulder, nibbling her ear as he murmured, "It appears we've outstayed our welcome…"

Seven froze thoughtfully for a minute, a decision forming in her mind as she pulled back to look him directly in the face. It was an impulse, but the urge to give him that first kiss had been too, and that had worked out for them. "I don't think that means we need to part, it just means our lesson is over." She whispered to him frankly.

Chakotay's mouth immediately crashed hungrily against her as he abruptly stood up in the water, bringing her, still coiled around him, up with him. "That's very true." He agreed softly, kissing her more tenderly. He knew what _he _wanted, and she had just been quite open with him about her desires too. That was one of the things he appreciated about her, no matter how unsure she could be about things a lot of the time, when things got serious he always knew where she stood, no games. "Let's get out of here then sweetheart."

**A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D I'm sorry it took me all week to type just this. I'm travelling back down to Wales this afternoon and moving back into my flat over the weekend so I'll probably won't be online much again until next week. **


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